A group of Pine Bluff residents upset with the Pine Bluff School Board’s decision to hire former Mills High School principal Michael Nellums as Pine Bluff High School principal will host a ‘Rescind the Vote Forum.’
The forum will be held at St. James United Methodist Church, 900 N. University Drive, from 6 to 7 p.m. Monday.
The organizers, who call themselves the Concerned and Involved Parents and Patrons of the Pine Bluff School District, said in a press release that the purpose of the forum is to inform and empower.
The hiring of Nellums over longtime PBHS instructor Earleen Collins upset a number of teachers at the high school as well as parents of students attending the school and took up a large part of an open forum hosted by the Pine Bluff board May 24.
At that meeting, district parent Reola Moore was the first of many to bring up the controversial board vote approving the recommendation of former superintendent Jerry O. Payne to hire Nellums.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I received a letter I believe from Mr. Payne that talked about moving the Pine Bluff School District from good to great,” Moore said then. “I don’t understand how you can have that idea and hire Michael Nellums over Earleen Collins. Ms. Collins was there when I was in school. Why was Ms. Collins looked over? The board hired Nellums from Little Rock. There are things about him on the Internet that are not good.”
Kymara Seals, who is organizing the Monday forum, said one of her children is beginning the 11th grade at PBHS this fall.
“There are a number of parents who are upset with the hiring of Michael Nellums as the new principal of Pine Bluff High School,” Seals said.
Seals read a letter that she had circulated among patrons and signed by district parents addressed to Payne and the members of the school board outlining concerns over the Nellums hiring and the perceived snub of Collins for the principal’s position.
Nellums was investigated by prosecutors while an educator in Pulaski County.
The investigation stemmed from allegations that Nellums conspired with Pulaski County Special School District board president Tim Clark to frame PCSSD board member Gwen Williams.
In a May 20, 2011, report Larry Jegley, Prosecuting Attorney for Perry and Pulaski counties, reviewed the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office investigation into the activities of Nellums and Clark and determined that even though no actual criminal violations had taken place, the entire event painted the two men in a much less than favorable light.
Nellums and Clark were determined by Jegley’s office to have participated in a scheme that produced a videotape and letter suggesting that Williams took a bribe.
Dorothy McFadden also criticized the board vote for hiring Nellums over Collins.
“I’m here tonight to discuss several things,” McFadden said then. “I went to Greenville Elementary School and graduated from Merrill High School. I was employed with the school district for 16 years. Why was Earleen Collins passed up as principal? I have known this woman for years. She is a stellar performer. Very bright. I know that there is a war on women, but I would hate to think that this was done to hurt her. If he [Nellums] has not signed the employment contract yet, do the right thing and hire Earleen Collins.”